Cold War Over As Soviets Invade Nhl

Pro closeup: Russian revolution

The National Hockey League, after two decades of wistful glances toward the progeny of the Soviet Union's hockey program, is about to embark on a lesson in wish fulfillment.

At a cost of several million dollars, the first contingent of Soviet stars scheduled to conquer the NHL has arrived, by invitation only, and in some instances without the blessing of officials of their native country.

The jury of their peers will remain out until established NHL players see if their new Soviet teammates bring them closer to a Stanley Cup, a criterion that will influence front offices and fans.

There are already grumbles that the league ought not to be shouldering aside the Red Curtain in an effort to improve itself. But NHL President John Ziegler - whose league opens its regular season today - termed such grumbling as ludicrous and said any attempt to squelch or limit the import of qualified players would be a mistake.

''We don't ask where a player has played before, or where he was born,'' Ziegler said. ''We only ask, 'Can you play at this level?' ''

Throughout the 1980s, the farsighted among the league's general managers thought the skills of four dozen Soviet players worth risking draft choices for, even before glasnost became a buzzword in the marketplace.

''We've been drooling over the talent behind the Iron Curtain for years,'' said Minnesota North Stars General Manager Jack Ferreira. ''I don't think we're in a position to limit ourselves to areas where we should be finding players. Yes, it's a novelty, but everybody's looking for an edge.''

Still, the arrival of Soviet players has raised some hackles, and Philadelphia Flyers General Manager Bobby Clarke recently speculated that rather than attract curious spectators, Soviet players might turn away some fans.

''There are plenty of folks in North America who still have the feeling that these are the bad guys, and that they're going to come over here, take away jobs, and then take their money back home and build atom bombs to kill us,'' said Alan Eagleson, head of the NHL Players Association.

For two decades he has been a facilitator of exchanges between the NHL and its Soviet counterpart.

''Now I can't say I believe that's going to happen, but I can understand that there's legitimate concern that this trickle of seven or eight players this year doesn't turn into a flood of 27 next year. But I doubt that will happen.''

Nine Soviet players, eight of them with sizable NHL contracts in hand, took their place in training camp last month, after a summer of feverish negotiations between the hard-bargaining Soviet Sports Federation and a handful of general managers.

Only one player, the Buffalo Sabres' Aleksandr Mogilny, defected, apparently in order to extricate himself from his military and athletic commitments. He has been cleared by the FBI and anticipates receiving political asylum.

Mogilny was terrified when he stepped off the plane that delivered him from Stockholm last May, just hours after helping the Soviet national team secure another world championship.

But by the time Mogilny reported to training camp, he had already been to New York and Disney World, taken a six-week crash course in English, rented a suburban townhouse next door to a teammate, Christian Ruuttu, and surrendered a portion of his signing bonus to drive home a Porsche from the local showroom.

Mogilny received a standing ovation from 6,000 fans when he scored in his first exhibition game. All the Soviet players have received similar receptions at their new home rinks.

The only Soviet here without a contract is Minnesota North Star forward Helmut Balderis.

Balderis spent the last four years as a player-coach in Japan and was skating on a line with Neal Broten before he suffered a groin injury that leaves his status with the club questionable.

The other eight Soviet players have already earned spots on their respective rosters.

The six renowned newcomers - Vyacheslav Fetisov and Sergei Starikov of the Devils, Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov of the Vancouver Canucks, Sergei Makarov of the Calgary Flames and Sergei Mylnikov of the Quebec Nordiques - were all members of the Soviet Union's 1988 Olympic gold medal squad. And all except Mylnikov were gold medalists in 1984 as well.